Maryland casinos are showing an impressive rebound from their coronavirus shutdown. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission reports they saw a year on year increase in revenue for September, growing to $1.4 million.
After a three-month shutdown, from March to June, the state’s six casinos combined for $143,709,268 in revenue for September. That beats the $142,223,137 in 2019 they made in 2019, a 1% increase.
The casinos are only allowed to be open at 50% capacity, as per the orders of Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan. Despite that restriction, four casinos saw increases in earnings: Live! Casino & Hotel, Rocky Gap Casino, Hollywood Casino and Ocean Downs Casino.
Only two casinos saw a drop in revenue: MGM National Harbor in Prince George county, which dropped $232,999 from the previous year, and Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore city, which saw a $950,931 drop.
This was Maryland’s first year on year growth in revenue in the casino sector, having last seen growth in February 2020. It was however a monthly drop, as the industry saw $5.8 million more in revenue for August, 2020.
Of the $143 million, Maryland will collect $59.7 million to put towards various state programs. The state’s Education Trust Fund will receive $43.4 million of that bounty.
While the casinos may only reopen at 50% capacity, they still don’t have all bars, restaurants and stores open. In fact, MGM National Harbor cut 780 jobs in August, and considering they were one of the casinos to lose money year over year, perhaps more cuts are to come.
The overall growth is promising though, especially considering the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be far from over. While Maryland’s new cases curve has flattened to some degree when compared with April and May, the state continues to see anywhere from 400 to 780 new cases per day for the last week. But pent up demand and a lower maximum capacity helped keep casinos humming, despite all the danger that going out could bring to casino patrons.
